Attention and

Consciousness
Attention
The means by which we actively select and process a
limited amount of information from all information
received by our senses and other cognitive processes
Signal-Detection Theory (SDT)
Framework used to explain how people pick out
important stimuli embedded in a wealth of distracting
stimuli
Vigilance
Our ability to attend to a field of stimulation over a
prolonged period of time.
We seek to detect the appearance of a particular target
or stimulus of interest.
Search
Active looking
Feature search: Looking for only one feature (Color,
shape, size, etc)
 Used to analyze specific components or features. Happens at a
pre-attentive stage, is not influenced by display size
Conjunction search: Combining two or more features to
find a specific stimulus
 Must be done one object at a time, requires attention, and is
influenced by display size
Feature-integration Theory
There are two stages involved in the perception of
objects
Stage 1: Perception of features
Stage 2: Conjunction searches composed of connecting
two or more features with “mental glue”
Similarity theory
Alternative theory
“The more similar target and distracters are, the more
difficult the target is to find”
Search difficulty depends on the unique differences of
distracters instead of the number of features to be
integrated
Selective Attention
What helps us to attend only to the message of the
target speaker to whom we wish to listen?
1. distinctive sensory characteristics of the target’s
speech (e.g., high versus low pitch, pacing, and
rhythmicity)
2. sound intensity (loudness)
3. location of the sound source
Early Filter Model
An early theory of attention where we filter
information right after we notice it at the sensory level.
One message gets through the filter and will be
processed further to the short-term memory.
Selective Filter model
Challenged the Early filter model and suggested that
most information are filtered at the sensory level but
certain important or strong stimuli can be powerful
enough to burst through the filter (Such as distinct
names in a long boring conversation with a lot of
noise)
Attenuation model
Some information about unattended signals are
analyzed alongside attended signals.
Instead of direct filtering, our brain uses attenuators to
weaken certain signals and strengthen others.
Late-Filter Model
Filter is located after perceptual processes occur
Divided Attention
Initially, people have difficulty processing two
different tasks/stimuli at the same time, however it
can be managed once a certain task has been
automated.

Other approaches to divided attention is that the

brain has difficulty overlapping 2 speedy tasks at the
same time.
Factors that affect our attention
Anxiety

Arousal

Task Difficulty

Skills
Neuroscience of Attention
Alerting
The process getting to this focused, alert state
Norepinephrine is the neurotransmitter involved in the
maintenance of alertness
Brain mechanisms responsible are Right frontal and
parietal cortex.
Malfunction in alert system may result in the
development of ADHD
Orienting
Selection of stimuli to attend to
Superior parietal lobe and temporal parietal junction,
frontal eye fields and superior colliculus is responsible
for orienting
Acetylcholine is the modulating neurotransmitter
Dysfunction can be associated with autism
Executive Attention
Includes processes for monitoring and resolving
conflicts that arise among internal processes
Anterior cingulate, lateral, ventral, and prefrontal
cortex, basal ganglia are responsible for this.
Neurotransmitter responsible: Dopamine.
Dysfunction: Alzheimer's disease, BPD, schizophrenia
Automatic and Controlled Processes in
Attention
Automatic Processes: No conscious control
Controlled Processes: Accessible to conscious control
and require it.
Automization is viewed has been viewed as the fine
tuning and efficiency of our everyday tasks
Instance theory
Automization occurs due to gradually accumulating
knowledge about specific responses to stimuli
Consciousness and Attention
Our consciousness processes information from the
Preconscious stage as it moves along our cognitive
processes.
Preconscious information are areas in the brain we are
not thinking about currently, but can be retrieved
from our memories.
Priming
Presentation of an initial stimulus can affect the
perception of the second.
Humans may, or may not be aware of priming stimuli
Struggles in Attention
ADHD
Characterized by:
 Attention
 Hyperactivity
 Impulsiveness

Main types of ADHD

Hyperactive-Impulsive
Inattentive
A combination of the two
Inattentive ADHD has distinct symptoms such as
Easily distracted by other stimuli
Fails to pay attention to details
Making careless mistakes
Failing to read instructions completely or carefully
Susceptible to forgetting or losing things
Jumping from one incomplete task to another.
Change Blindness
A perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in
a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does
not notice it.

Spatial Neglect
Attentional dysfunction in which participants ignore
half of their visual field contralateral to the hemisphere
of the brain that has a lesion.